eBay downplays auctions in favor of fixed-priced listings

eBay announced a number of changes today that will change how both buyers and …

eBay is making some changes that will further shift its focus from online auctions to fixed price resellers. The company announced Wednesday that it plans to drop the cost of listing an item under "Buy It Now" by 70 percent, extend allowable listing periods for these items, and lift a number of other restrictions in order to attract even more sellers. Although auctions aren't about to disappear, the move is an example of eBay's shifting priorities, and not everyone is happy about it.

Sellers will now only be charged a flat $0.35 fee for listing fixed-price "auctions," and can list multiple quantities of the same item for that single fee (previously, multiple quantities of a single item meant racking up the listing fees). Sellers can also now list items for a full 30 days, significantly longer than the standard 7-days.

This is all meant to encourage more Buy It Now listings by significantly lowering the cost of entry, and we have no doubt that there will soon be an explosion in fixed price listings as a result. That may be good for consumers who are increasingly turning to the site to buy cheap(er) things right away, but long-time online auctioneers aren't thrilled by the changes. eBay has made a name for itself as the place to go for online auctions, and now the site's focus will be more about giving resellers another online storefront than engaging in bidding wars.

eBay claims that it isn't about to dump the auction format, however. The company said that sellers can still choose to list things as auctions and that it remains the most cost-effective way to offer items for sale. Pricing for auction-style listings remains the same, and they will continue to be listed "prominently" in users' search results. "We love auctions. Auction-style listings remain the ideal choice for sellers who are uncertain about the value of their item, have a scarce item in high demand, or are willing to start at a low price and let bidding determine the final value," eBay Marketplaces president Lorrie Norrington said in a statement. "With these changes, we're making sure sellers have competitive opportunities in both formats—auction-style and fixed price."

Still, even with the lip-service paid to the traditional auction format, sellers have become increasingly upset at eBay's actions as of late. Earlier this year, eBay changed its age-old feedback system to prevent sellers from leaving negative feedback on buyers. This was done to curb tit-for-tat feedback wars, but sellers made it very clear that they felt the new system basically eliminated the entire purpose of feedback in the first place. Some are so frustrated that they have begun to look elsewhere in order to unload their wares, like Amazon's Marketplace or even Craigslist.

In addition to the fixed-price fee changes, which will go into effect on September 16, eBay is also apparently axing buyer protection for anyone not using PayPal to complete their transactions. (The New York Timesreports that eBay will no longer allow users to use check or cash to pay, but that appears to be incorrect based on our interpretation of eBay's announcement.) Although it's not hard to imagine why eBay has chosen to go this route, it's sure to spark an uproar among those who feel that eBay is pressuring all of its users to start using its own payment service so that it can continue to rake in the transaction fees.

In fact, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently stated that eBay's PayPal-only policy there might allow the company to abuse its power and ultimately eliminate competition in the market where PayPal operates. Although such a sweeping policy has not yet been proposed in the US, eBay appears to be inching in that direction by eliminating buyer protection for non-PayPal transactions.